What do lab coats and dresses have in common? More than you think! Style isn't just self-expression. It's innovation, science, and, yes, even a form of activism. The next generation of change-makers isn’t just coding in labs or building rockets, they're also reimagining the clothes we wear.
The Problem
Fast fashion may serve up trends quickly and cheaply, but it comes at a high environmental cost—from polluted rivers to plastic-filled oceans. Many garments are made with synthetic fabrics and toxic dyes, contributing to pollution and waste. STEAM is changing the game in fashion—making it smarter, cleaner, and way more ethical from the inside out. Think sustainable materials, natural dyes, low-waste production, and designs that consider a garment’s full life cycle.
Tools like the Higg Index and the Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) are helping brands measure and reduce their impact—proving that with STEAM, fashion can be both stylish and sustainable. When you bring STEAM into fashion and involve voices from impacted communities, you get real innovation and solutions that push the industry toward a more sustainable, responsible future.
The Future of Fashion at Project Scientist
At Project Scientist we are empowering girls to become leaders, innovators and disruptors in STEM. This means introducing our students to cutting-edge curriculum grounded in real world issues that directly impact their present and future. Enter our Fashion Forward themed Summer Lab in 2025. “What Project Scientist brings is telling the girls, your ideas are valuable, your ideas ideate so much, you can create anything if you want to. You can make anything. That's what's so important is that girls have the ability to know that they're capable of so much and anything.” - Cannon Narmour, Superstar & Business Intelligence Analyst at Cotality
This summer, our young inventors stepped into the spotlight as the next generation of fashion-forward scientists, engineers, and environmental advocates. At Fashion Forward: Science, Style & Sustainability, Project Scientist's hands-on Summer STEAM Lab, students dove into the science behind what we wear—and why it matters.. "Everything is so fun! We get to learn about how to help people, how to stop using so much plastic, and how to help the whole environment." - Summer STEAM Lab Student.
Students participated in a range of hands-on projects, including fabric investigations, brand development, t-shirt upcycling, and fashion showcase presentations. They explored wearable technology through circuit labs, with younger students building simple circuits and older students tackling more advanced series circuits. They also engaged in the adaptive fashion empathy lab, designing inclusive clothing and accessories, often inspired by a desire to help others. Expeditions to places like Cotality, Trane Technologies, and the Albemarle lithium mine expanded their understanding of innovation and sustainability. A major highlight was connecting with superstars, volunteers, and guest speakers—especially Tiffany Taylor, who inspired students with her stories and expertise. The program sparked excitement for sustainability, with many families sharing that their kids were already planning upcycling projects at home. These sustainable design challenges helped students discover that science doesn’t just live in textbooks, it’s sewn into the fabric of everyday life.
Designers we look up to
At Project Scientist, we believe that fashion-forward thinkers are also science-minded innovators. We were thrilled to welcome Wendy Hickey, founder and Executive Director of Artpop Street Gallery, to our Summer STEAM Lab in Charlotte. Wendy showcased designs by Rocio Llusca and Tina Vincent. The class was full of curiosity about how designers make runway fashion by upcycling retired artist billboards. The art they showed left students excited to create and choose fashion that’s both beautiful and eco-friendly.
We also draw inspiration from Ruth E. Carter, two-time Academy Award winning American film costume designer. Carter is best known for her work in the superhero movie Black Panther. She is also the first Black person to win the Costume Design category, helping Marvel Studios receive their first Oscars recognition. Carter also developed a partnership with Thrilling, an online vintage marketplace through a Vintage Studios Services program. This partnership was created as a bridge between secondhand sellers to people within production companies like designers and stylists as a way of connecting sustainable practices like secondhand/vintage shopping to the big screens.
What you can do
Sustainable fashion isn’t just for runways, it's where STEM innovators can make a change. Whether you're in the lab or a classroom, your wardrobe can reflect the same values you bring to your work: innovation, problem-solving, and responsibility. Here are a few ways you can make a difference:
- Thrifting: Second hand shopping is not only budget friendly, but eco friendly. It helps keep clothes out of landfills and gives them a new life.
- Upcycling: Innovation isn’t just for tech, but for textiles too. Become an engineer and redesign old clothing into something new!
- Support eco conscious brands: When you buy new clothes, find brands that prioritize eco-friendly materials like organic cotton, linen, and wild silk, which reduce environmental damage and support global sustainability.
- Supporting programs like Project Scientist can help empower more students to lead us into an abundant future for all.
